Audiobook Review: Survivors by Z. A. Recht with Thom Brannan

Quick Thoughts: Survivors is a worthy conclusion to the Morningstar Saga. It brings the ZA Recht’s stunning world to a strong conclusion. It is not a perfect novel, and definitely the weakest of the trilogy, but the crisp exciting ending, and the closing moments when we get to say goodbye to some beloved character easily make up for any issues early in the novel.

Grade: B+

I had only really started getting into Zombie fiction when my life transitioned, and I began consuming most of my fiction by audiobooks. I had always enjoyed Post Apocalyptic novels and loved Zombie movies since the first time I watched Night of the Living Dead as a teenager, but it wasn’t until I read Brian Keene’s The Rising that I discovered the fun that is the Zombie Apocalypse. One of the very first audiobooks I listened to was World War Z, and I enjoyed it, but I had enjoyed the book much more. At this time, there really wasn’t the wealth of Zombie fiction available in audiobook form as there is today. I had been aware of Permuted Press, but never read any of their titles because back then I rarely purchased books online. Then, one day, ZA Recht’s Morningstar Strain series came to audible, with the added bonus of being narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Oliver Wyman. I quickly purchased and listened to both the titles in this series, Plague of the Dead, and Thunder and Ashes. Over 20 hours of Zombie fiction for me to consume, no need to say that I was reveling in it. I enjoyed the mixture of zombie and military fiction, the many colorful characters, and a really big cliff hanger as book 2 came to an end. After listening, I quickly joined the forum run by ZA Recht, read the short stories and fan fiction, and interacted with fans, and the author. Sadly, only a few months after experiencing these works, ZA Recht passed away suddenly at the way too young age of 26. I was devastated by the news, believing that this kind man that interacted so passionately with his fans was taken from us way too young. Luckily, for his fans, Recht left behind enough in the form of notes and early chapter summaries that his world was turned over to a ghost writer, eventually revealed to be Permuted Press author and Editor Thom Brannan. It can easily be said he had big shoes to fill.

Survivors starts off just after the events of Thunder and Ashes, as out survivors are spread out across the decimated country. As one group is attempting to protect a scientist working on a cure from agents of a splinter government, another group, unknown to the first, is attempting to transport a key component for a potential cure through a zombie infested landscape. I’ll admit freely that it took me a while to get back into this tale. It had been nearly three years since I listened to the first two novels of the series, and since then I have listened to probably close to 100 zombie and post apocalyptic audiobooks. As the survivors were spread about, it took me some time to get my head back around the plot and characters of this world. In fact, I probably spent the first hour or two just reacquainting myself the characters and their situation. Eventually, it clicked in, and I found myself once again immersed in this world that Recht has created. Brannan does a good job pulling together all the pieces that Recht had placed on the board, and getting them moving in the right direction so they will eventually all meet up. There were definitely some early pacing issues, and a few scenes that didn’t feel like they were as fully explored as possible, but for the most part, I enjoyed where Brannan took the characters. Brannan took a lot of risks with this tale, showing the brutality of the world, by viciously killing off loved characters, and pushing many of our favorites to the edge. Survivors isn’t a pretty tale, where everyone we loved lives happily ever after, and it shouldn’t be. Yet, Survivors also managed to capture Recht’s dark humor, the outrageous characters that we have come to love, and even included a touch of romance. The final scenes were well orchestrated, and any pacing issues the novel had early fell away by the climatic scenes of the novel. There was a sort of bittersweet feeling to this ending. It’s hard to say if this was the book ZA Recht would have written, but, I think Brannon captured enough of the feel of the first two novels that ZA Recht would have been happy with how it turned out. Survivors is a worthy conclusion to the Morningstar Saga. It brings the ZA Recht’s stunning world to a strong conclusion. It is not a perfect novel, and definitely the weakest of the trilogy, but the crisp exciting ending, and the closing moments when we get to say goodbye to some beloved character easily make up for any issues early in the novel.

So, it’s no secret that I love listening to Oliver Wyman, particularly in books that are heavy with wonderful and diverse characters like Survivors. Yet, first off, I have to say I have noticed a continuing trend in his narrations that has me laughing every time I listen to him. I think he must have a bet with himself that for each time he has to say a term like “prologue” or “epilogue” he makes it just a little bit longer than the time before. So, the book opens with a “Proooloogueee” and closes with an “EpilooooooGA.” Now, in some ways I had a similar problem with Wyman’s narration that I did with the book. It had been so long since I listened to the first books that it took me some time to get back into the characters he was voicing. Every narrator has some stock voices, and when you listen to a narrator many times, sometimes previous character bleed into the ones you are listening to now, and it takes a bit of time to sort out. This is more of a listener problem that a narrator problem, and when things fell into place, I was definitely in the hands of a skilled storyteller. Wyman guides me through this tale with ease. Where his skills really shine though is the crazy, action filled, multiple perspective ending, where if the narrator doesn’t have control of his characters, the story could become all muddled. Yet, Wyman’s precise delineation, memorable characterizations and crisp but not rushed pacing allowed the action to come through, and made it easy for us listeners to see what was happening. Survivors closes out this trilogy, and places a fine end cap to a promising young writer’s career who left us far too early. ZA Recht is missed.

Honestly, I tried not to bring too many expectations into the novel, I had mixed feelings about Pavlov’s Dogs. I loved so much of that novel, the concepts were fascinating, and while there were aspects I wished you guys explored more, i never had an issue with the writing. My problem was, by the nature of the tale, many of the characters were unreliable, and I had trouble engaging with them in a meaningful way. With Survivors, i was pretty much already engaged with the characters and just needed to be reminded why. You did this, and did it well.

As with many fans of the series, I was worried that the feel of the previous novels wouldn’t be captured with a new author. I have read many of the reviews of Survivors, so I know fans are mixed on this point, but I for one feel that you captured where Zach was going with the story, more so then where he already had been. To me, this was important and a key distinction that some of the reviewers are missing.